1963 "Eight Men Out" First Edition Hardback by Eliot Asinof

A Near Mint, first-edition copy of the enduring classic. Mere wisps of wear are visible on the bold, clean and unclipped dust jacket. Interior pages are pristine. This is the book that exhumed the seamy machinations of the 1919 World Series and, 35 years after its publication, inspired the movie Eight Men Out, which Asinof co-wrote. His description of one of the scandal's key moments appears thusly: "On September 21, the eight ballplayers assembled after dinner in Chick Gandil's room at the Ansonia. In the history of American sport, it would be difficult to find another meeting that led to events so shattering. The ballplayers, however, appeared to have treated it all lightly. There was none of the conspiratorial somberness that might normally be attached to such occasions. Several of them made a joke out of it all, suggesting special bonuses to the guys who could make the most errors or leave the most men on bases ... Gandil, however, made sure that the terms were clearly specified. He recounted how he had demanded $80,000—in advance—at his meeting with Sport Sullivan, who had agreed to get it. The ballplayers would be paid off in full before the opening game."